Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (T350) vs Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 8″ 2

yoga3_vs_T350In March 2016 I thought its time to retire my old first generation Samsung Galaxy Tab 10″. I was interested in something easier to carry and thought time to buy an 8″ Android tablet. In a local electronics store I got my hands on a few different tablets and ended up buying the Samsung Galaxy Tab A8.0 (T350). It was on promotion and ‘only’ set me back $AUD 299. Can’t really complain, it did its job well but I felt its a soulless device. A cheap plastic case filled with a screen. And the screen is good but its not really great. So the  tablet was used here and there but I did not really enjoy it, like I do some of my other devices.

Then in January 2017 wife complaint that all got a tablet in the family, but she doesn’t. Happy wife, happy life so at the next electronic store visit I guided her to the internet tablets. I was holding the Yoga Tab 3 8″ in my hands and the price was $AUD 199. I thought wow! This device feels great in my hands, I loved the idea with the stand and the fact that it doesn’t have a button on the front. The stupid thing with the Samsung devices is that have a home screen button and the task switcher/back ‘button’ left and right of it on its front. What if you don’t want to use your tablet in portrait mode? Its not a phone! That won’t be an issue with the Yoga Tab 3, the front is just for the screen and it has ‘software buttons’. The stand which is part of its case is made out of metal and the whole tablet has a sleek, heavy and expensive feel. The power button is made out of metal as well and I like how easy it is to use this big power button instead of the flimsy thing on the Galaxy Tab. Well, it got no home button that can be used to switch it on. But as I said earlier, I am not a fan of that as well. I did a quick check on my phone to see how the specs compare to my Galaxy Tab A8:

Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (WiFi) Yoga Tab 3 8″
CPU  Quad-core 1.2 GHz  Quad-core 1.1 GHz Cortex-A7
RAM  1.5 GB  2 GB
Display  768 x 1024 pixels (~160 ppi pixel density)  800 x 1280 pixels (~189 ppi pixel density)
Memory  16 GB (+SD Card slot)  16 GB (+SD Card slot)
Camera  5 MP  8 MP
 Battery  4200 mAh  6200 mAh

So both tablets got the same size but they are quite different. Its worth mentioning that the Yoga Yab 3 8″ initially only had 1GB of RAM but Lenovo upgraded it to 2 GB. The Galaxy Tab has a slightly better chipset and a CPU running on a higher speed. But more RAM is a lot more valuable than that and the Yoga got half a GB more. The cameras on both tablets are not the greatest, but the Yoga 3 comes at least with 8 MP and I like the fact that you can change the camera position by turning it. With 2000 mAh extra juice in the battery, thanks to the case design, the Yoga runs forever on battery. I never complaint in that department about the Galaxy Tab, but the Yoga takes the cake here!

Overall excited about the Yoga Tab 3 I bought one for my wife. But two days later I sold my Tab A8.0 for $200 and bought a Yoga 3 for myself. I love it! Funny enough, that the Galaxy Tab A8.0 is still sold for $299. Happy to leave that plastic trash for other who are willing to throw out an extra $100 bucks for the brand.

2 thoughts on “Samsung Galaxy Tab A 8.0 (T350) vs Lenovo Yoga Tab 3 8″

  1. Reply Josh May 11,2018 17:53

    Great post! I’m in the same situation. I have that tab a8 and currently looking forward to buying the yoga tab 3… How’s your experience so far, after more than a year of use? Any issues? Is the battery still reliable? Any system crashes or something like that? Has it gotten slow? Or is it still working great?
    Thanks you in advance, I’d really appreciate your feedback!

  2. Reply Josh May 11,2018 17:55

    By the way I’m planning to buy the 10.1 inch version, cause the 8inch is not available in my country

Leave a Reply to Josh Cancel Reply